Pensacola businessman and developer Quint Studer said this week that while he’s ruled out any interest in running for office, he has every intention of becoming more active in politics, especially at the local level.

Studer says his involvement will entail lobbying for his local development projects and political issues, along with writing more checks to political candidates and committees.

“When I look back, I realize I just didn’t have time,” Studer said Thursday. “I needed more time to study issues, more time to work on what I care about.”

“I have a lot of interest in moving this community forward and I want to help inform others,” Studer said. “Rishy and I are very committed locally. We want to begin moving projects and processes along. I’m a full-time time volunteer now.”

Studer’s comments on his desire to become more involved in the political process come on the heels of statements he made last week when the businessman said he’s “tried not to contribute to campaigns” in the past. In a follow up with The Pulse, Studer reiterated that he doesn’t believe he has been a big campaign donor.

Quint and Rishy Studer. (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater/Special to The Pulse)

But those statements run contrary to official records of Studer’s political contributions in recent years. Those records show that over the past ten years, Quint and Rishy Studer — along with the couple’s respective companies — have donated more than $130,000 to political candidates, campaigns, and political action committees.

When asked if it was his intention to run for political office during an interview with NewsRadio 1620 last week Studer said, “The answer is no. In the past I’ve tried not to be involved. I try not to write campaign checks. I try not to lobby.”

Speaking Thursday, Studer sought to clarify his intentions on running for political office.

“The question was asked would you ever run for office,” Studer said. “I said, when you’re in the world of recovery like I am, honesty is key, and I said I’m not saying I will, but you can never say you won’t.”

“I think there’s some people everyday who wake up and wish I would leave,” Studer added.

‘No plans to leave’

Studer has recently made public statements that he’s looking to invest more in his hometown of Janesville, Wisc., where much of his family lives.

Last year, the Studers purchased a block of buildings in downtown Janesville, which the couple plans to redevelop into new retail and storefront shops, under the “Bodacious North” banner. Studer says the development is meant to mirror the couple’s Bodacious family of shops on Main and Palafox Streets in downtown Pensacola.

The investments, coupled with Studer’s recent departure from the company he founded, have led some to speculate that the Studers could leave Pensacola, but Studer insists he has no intentions of doing so. “I have no plans to leave,” he said. “No plans to leave.”

On the contrary, Studer says he intends to be much more involved in the local political and lobbying process and says he regrets being so busy traveling that he’s missed a lot of opportunities to lobby on behalf of projects he says are important to Pensacola.

“I need more time to study issues,” Studer said. “More time to work on what I care about, like education, homelessness, jobs.”

Big money to campaigns

Reaching as far back as 1996, the Studers have made many contributions to Republicans, Democrats, and political action committees — the controversial entities which funnel virtually unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns. The majority of the Studers’ contributions were made in the past decade.

Quint Studer with Congressman Miller (R-FL) in 2014. (Jeff Miller/Special to The Pulse)

The actual influence Studer and other major campaign contributors have over lawmakers and public policy is unclear, but a review of Studer’s political donations shows his potential political leverage.

The Pulse review shows that between 1996 and 2015, Studer contributed the following:

• $80,514 to campaigns of Pensacola city council and mayoral candidates, Escambia County commissioner and superintendent of schools candidates, and local political action committees.

• $12,900 to Florida congressman Jeff Miller’s campaigns.

• $4,500 to the Republican Party of Florida.

• $5,000 to the Republican National Committee.

Pensacola’s Blue Wahoos Stadium is home to the Blue Wahoos, the minor league baseball team owned by Studer. The Studers spent more than $50,000 lobbying the public to build the multi-use waterfront stadium and park. (Drew Buchanan/The Pulse)

‘LLC Loophole’

Various elected officials — from the local to federal level — have accepted thousands of dollars from Studer through legal campaign finance loopholes that allow political donors to make contributions through multiple entities.

The so-called “LLC loophole” allows a person who owns several businesses — often limited liability companies, or LLCs — to give the maximum allowable campaign contribution through each business. This provides a legal way for wealthy individuals to effectively buy more political influence. Businesses are only required to disclose their business names and addresses.

Quint Studer poses with Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL) and wife Vicki Miller and Congressman Paul Ryan during a book signing for Ryan. Studer has contributed to both politicians. (R-WI) (Jeff Miller/Special to The Pulse)

A few states have enacted legislation to close the LLC loophole — but not the Sunshine State, traditionally known for its strict open records laws that the late Pensacolian Reubin Askew first championed in the 1970s as governor of Florida.

The practice is perfectly legal in Florida. Because of this, the state earned an “F” for political financing in a 2015 State Integrity Investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

The failing grade for Florida is mostly thanks to Florida’s definition of a “person.” The state’s campaign finance law defines a person as “an individual or a corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate or other combination of individuals having collective capacity.”

22 states completely prohibit LLCs and other corporations from contributing to political campaigns, including Studer’s home state of Wisconsin.

Swaying laws, policy

Determining the precise influence major campaign donations have over law, policy, and elected officials can be difficult.

Studer asked attorney Scott Remington to review his political contributions in response to an inquiry made by The Pulse. “I have reviewed these records and they are likewise quite modest for someone of your means,” Remington wrote in an email describing Studer’s campaign contributions.

“I am surprised how low this amount has been over the past 7 years,” Remington continued. “This number pales in comparison to many other politically savvy people in Escambia County.”

The Studers are hardly the only wealthy Pensacolians with a history of giving big money to local politicians and using LLCs to funnel money to candidates.

Similarly, the prominent Lewis Bear family has given more than $100,000 in recent Escambia County elections through personal and corporate contributions, official records show. The Terhaar & Cronley families have given more than $60,000 under various LLCs and local companies.

Studer described his motives for becoming more involved now that he’s stepping away from his position with the Studer Group.

“My top priorities are pre-kindergarten educational readiness, jobs, women and children homelessness, and the environment,” Studer said. “How do we get better wages, better jobs? How do you create jobs that have a positive impact on the community?”

Studer says one way he’s trying to give back is through his “Be the Bulb” initiative that focuses on education readiness in local-area schools. As part of the effort, he’s promising $50,000 for the best ideas to improve early learning in Escambia County.

Studer reaffirmed that he has no intentions of running for office, but said his political efforts will be issues-based. He may consider forming a political action committee to support certain candidates or causes, he said, but hasn’t yet taken any steps to do so.

“There might be some candidates that might want to run that don’t have the resources,” Studer said. “I’m doing my due diligence to learn more.”

10 Responses

Quint Studer is an excellent “shake-down” artist. Throughout the course of the Daily Convo, LLC tax crime scandal that has run from August 2014 to present, Quint Studer has directly pressured elected officials or had others do it on his behalf to include making B.S. threats that if his for-profit company does not get a public taxpayer subsidy of just $2.1 million the now scaled-down $50 million project to be built on the site of the former PNJ will not be built. There is no shortage of media records of statements made by Quint Studer, those paid by him and those whose strings he pulls like a little puppet to include Mayor Ashton Hayward. Prior to the city’s December 9 Daily Convo EDATE vote, Quint Studer called to put the squeeze on one Council member who changed his vote from NO to YES though saying before and after the vote that he knew the Council was voting to take an illegal action. One person close to the Office of the Mayor said that Quint Studer called another Council member almost certain to vote NO and that person opted to take the path of least resistance by just not showing up and so not having to vote. Councilwoman Sherri Myers told me that Quint Studer’s political attorney Scott Remington called her before the December 9 vote asking that she abstain from voting and saying that Mr. Studer wanted the vote in his favor to be unanimous. Someone in the media should investigate that story further and find out from the State Attorney’s Office if Remington’s effort constitutes a violation of state law. On the upside, Quint & Rishy Studer will never see a dollar of the $5.9 million they think they have squeezed out of city and county taxpayers. People will be shocked when the story is eventually made public about how Daily Convo, LLC has relentlessly broken one state, county and city law after another in the EDATE mess, to include preparation of a fraudulent Department of Revenue Form 418 (DR-418), with all of the elected and appointed officials and government bureaucrats to include City Attorney Lysia Bowling and County Attorney Alison Rogers turning a blind eye. On the downside, the conjoined EDATE/Enterprise Zone scandal involves far more businesses than just Daily Convo and extends back at least to 2001 in the case of the EDATEs and to 2008 in the case of the Enterprise Zone. The new normal under both the prior Council-Manager and the current Strong Mayor-Weak Council form of government is a wholesale violation of laws without consequences as seen very clearly in the Long Hollow Radio Tower scandal that seemingly has a federal law angle to judge by the false documents submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission. Lastly, Quint Studer’s expanded interest is more openly buying more politicians screams out for city campaign finance reform of the type I have urged several Council members to propose with none yet having the courage to do so.

Drew and Derrick in your attempt to make Quint Studer look bad (clearly evident by the tone and tenor of your recent editorials) you are actually eroding any credibility your publication is trying to build locally. Not smart guys!!!

You cannot name ANY person in Pensacola that has made more economic development investments and community building initiatives than Mr Studer. Nor can you justify your attempts to discredit the integrity, intentions and/or ethics of this man and ignore the clear shortcomings of the political leadership you are trying to bolster.

Thanks for your comments. They’re always appreciated. We have no intention or desire to “make Quint Studer look bad.” We have published one editorial on Mr. Studer, highlighting his importance and significance in the community, but also pointing out he has flaws, like all of us do, and we should not burden him by regarding him as a “sacred cow.”

Our recent articles were published to bring clarity to Mr. Studer’s recent public statements and our tone and coverage has remained neutral (if you think otherwise, please point out your concerns.) We have not discredited Mr. Studer’s integrity or ethics and have no intention to do so.

Regarding this story in particular, we decided to look into these statements, given his high-visibility status and his desires to enter the political arena to lobby for specific issues. In our research, we found that Studer is one of the largest contributors to political campaigns and committees locally, contrary to his statements, and often has utilized “LLC Loopholes” to give large amounts to campaigns.

So, that said, this is not meant to be a negative piece on Studer. We only sought to bring clarity to his public statements that he does in fact spend a large amount of money on politicians and PACs. If he had been clear in his statements in the first place, we wouldn’t have wrote the piece.

We will be following up with another piece on “LLC Loopholes” and campaign finance reform on the local level soon, highlighting the big players in the area that have used loopholes and shady laws to give big money to politicians.

Thank you for your response and I do not agree with your assessment of your recent articles as being “neutral.”

You stated, “We have no intention or desire to make Quint Studer look bad. We have published one editorial on Mr. Studer, highlighting his importance and significance in the community, but also pointing out he has flaws, like all of us do, and we should not burden him by regarding him as a sacred cow.”

After a review of your articles for the month of January the ONLY PEOPLE that you have written articles about have been the Mayor and Mr. Studer, the rest have been projects, events and/or community initiatives.

The undertone of the Studer articles have the appearance of creating a “image” of Studer that is of a person that is driven by personal profit taking advantage of Pensacola. Clearly, this is the case and the comments surrounding each of the 3 articles show that this is the “takeaway” the readers have come with. You provide your “opinions” in a subtle form of editorial journalism that you define as “pointing out his flaws.”

However, you bias and your hypocritical attempt “not burden him by regarding him as a sacred cow” is clearly evident in your “journalistic” articles as it relates to the Mayor (the ONLY other person highlighted in your articles) when you clearly have not made ANY ATTEMPT to tell the truth about the political fiascos, poor personnel decisions, failed economic development initiatives and/or the years of media publications that clearly “define” the Mayor’s flaws.

To ignore and not “point out these flaws” of a PUBLIC ELECTED OFFICIAL is hypocritical and in direct contradiction to your claims of “journalistic neutrality.”

Come on Drew, of all people you should know that I am not one to “stay quiet and go along with the flow,” and blindly accept your “just neutral journalism claim” and then try to claim your concern for the “public.”

You talk about the “LLC Loophole” and your future articles surrounding the people that utilize this “loophole” to exert political influence and politician support. Make sure that you are “neutral” on that and fully report the Mayor’s business partners, legal advisors and city contract recipients that have fully utilized this “loophole” to further the Mayor’s political career.

I bet you won’t tie the contribution under this “loophole” to actual “benefits received and political actions that support” these “loophole contributors” that are clearly in the record (as I HAVE done this comparison) and let’s see what YOU report.

I ask you AGAIN, “Name ONE person in Pensacola that has invested more money, time and resources for the economic development of Pensacola?” YOU CAN’T because they don’t exist.

Mr. Lewis is not wrong in his assessment. Those of us “on the inside” would agree. I am not Anti-Studer, but I am Pro-Pensacola and I must say that while Mr. Studer has played a pivotal role in the revitalization of downtown Pensacola, much of it has been done through, what I feel, are deceptive and manipulative maneuvers.

Historically, In each business transaction, Mr. Studer is the only one profiting. I fell that the Mayor was very wise to pull the plug on the most recent Maritime Park Property Lease deal, without a clear and concise detailing of how the property will be utilized and the revenue (or loss) it would be to the city. It was foolish of the city to allow Mr. Studer to personally write-up his own terms in the original Maritime Lease Property. As a result, the retail shops, etc. that Mr. Studer had promised, and would have generated revenue for the city, didn’t happen. Typical.
Similarly, if researched, you will find that Studer affiliated businesses have not made money. Should Pensacola continue following the Studer business model? Maybe, but with caution.

Yes, Mr. Studer has written many books on how to successfully run a business (Wired for Excellence, The Great Employee Handbook, etc). What you may not know is..all of his books, with the exception of one, were self-published by Mr. Studer. The one book that was published by an outside publisher sold a few thousand copies. Those copies were purchased by Mr. Studer himself. And, it might surprise you to know that employees of both Mr. Studer and Mrs. Studer do not speak well of them as employers. They will not speak publicly for fear of retribution. Again, do we want to follow their business models? Do we want to entrust more of our city’s growth to them? Maybe, but with caution.

As for their recent announcement to find a solution to help Kindergarten aged children, help the homeless, etc., which are truly wonderful ideas, might they consider selling one of the 8 or 9 homes that they own and use that money to provide homes, food and education for many needy families?

I applaud Mr and Mrs. Studer’s love of Pensacola. I love this wonderful city too. But I feel we must be cautiously optimistic when moving forward with Studer related projects. We should be careful as to what power we relinquish, and to whom.

George, I would like for you and others to know that there are other people and groups investing large sums of money in Pensacola, particularly in Uptown. For instance, in 2014 Sacred Heart Health Systems open the new Bayou Blvd., towers, a $52 million dollar investment. Three out parcels are being developed at Cordova Mall, the list goes on and on. Just since I have been on City Council I have witnessed many multi-million dollar developments in Uptown, including the old K-Mart store re-purposed into 4 large stores (Fresh Market being one of them) The Hilton Garden Inn and Hyatt Plaza were built, the old Toys R Us building was re-modeled and is now Old Time Potter, Newks, Jasons Deli, SHHS spent millions building a new cancer center, Dicks Sporting goods, Granger Mountain, 5 Guys, gee my hand is getting tired, so I guess I need to stop typing – just come on over to Uptown and check us out. Besides all the jobs created and sales tax revenue being generated, a great thing about all the developments in Uptown – our developers haven’t asked for one single penny of tax payer’s money. No EDATs, no tax credits, no lobbying the Mayor or City Council for favors, just investing in Pensacola because it is a great place to live, work and play.

You know I love you, however, your response is not “on point” and clearly demonstrates my point that Mr Studer is the NUMBER 1 INDIVIDUAL financial investor and benefactor for the Pensacola area … and to try to slam such a person is disingenuous and reeks of “political and personal gotchas” driven by jealous people that like to “throw rocks and then hide their hands.”

1. None of the “investments” made in Uptown you cite was made by an individual from Pensacola and clearly are driven by “profit driven companies.”

2. The “retail based” investments cited DO NOT need financial incentives because they are driven by credit-worthy national retailers that some would contend are detrimental to the growth of locally owned and operated business enterprises such as the local business enterprises that Studer development have proven to help establish.

3. The jobs created are part-time low wage positions in the service sector.

4. Also, the investments that Studer personally has invested in between Belmont-Devillers, Maritime Place, Main/Palafox, Maritime Park, ECUA property, and the final build-out value far exceeds ALL of the investment you cite COMBINED.

It is incredible to me that this city is so cannibalistic and jealous of someone that has done so much to help this City.

George, You # 3 point is really unbelievable. Do you really think the jobs created by Sacred Heart are part-time low wage positions in the service sector? There are many many local investors in the Uptown area. Most of the jobs in Uptown are not part-time. But, even so, I am thankful for all of our investors and the many jobs they have created, the property taxes they pay, the communications taxes, the sales tax revenue. My point is – there are many investors contributing to the vitality of the City and it isn’t all downtown. That’s the point. Let’s give everyone credit and show our gratitude across the board. One last thing – most mornings I have breakfast at Sacred Heart and as I walk down the hall I pass the pictures on the wall of the SHHS board. One of the pictures is that of Mr. Studer. I am sure he has contributed to the decisions that have resulted in the expansion of Sacred Heart.

Sacred Heart is an exception and you are correct regarding its wage scale and investment. The point I am making is that we spend too much time and resources trying to discredit the people that try to make Pensacola more progressive and inclusive.

Clearly my point about the INDIVIDUAL that has done the MOST being mischaracterized as someone who is trying to take advantage of our community.
Quint has done so much more than what has been described here.

If this was “neutral” where was the reporting on such Studer initiatives like kindergarten readiness; the business challenge grants; Entrecon; revitalization of Belmont Devilliers; Soul Bowl partnerships; Friday Nights Under the light w/Derrick Brooks; Springfest revival; architect of the Covenant With the Community; Downtown YMCA not to mention that he and Rishy give money to almost EVERY civic, philanthropic, and charitable cause in this city.

Millions of dollars in charitable giving to improve Prnsacola.

However the narrative within this talks about political contributions as if that is a nefarious event done for financial gain.

I got news for you. The Studers could make a heck of a lot more MONEY investing in major markets that are more economically vibrant than Pensacola without the headache and back biting that occurs here.

Again, can you, someone, or anyone please tell me WHO has done more? I’m still waiting.

When private community investors seek financial benefit from government the highest level of public scrutiny is required. When private community investors who seek government benefits lobby elected officials who they have contributed to financially it should cause all of us concern. I give you money and you give me the taxpayer’s money is what it appears to be and in most cases that is exactly what it actually is. Saying you just want good government and good policies from government sounds terrific but when requests are later made for government benefits it certainly appears that was the primary motive for making the political contributions. Best way to walk the walk would be to stop making political contributions to public officials if government benefits are to be later requested from those officials.